How can we help our Australian friends??

[bendipez]

I keep hearing about all the devastation in Australia and would like to help in some way...perhaps there is a way we can all come together here at DSP and make a donation??

[omio]

Ineke's LO:

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/4137/thumbs/Tragedy2.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302533&ppuser=44859)
Tragedy (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302533&cat=500&ppuser=44859)

[omio]

Dagwood's LO:

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/6673/thumbs/victoria-burns-16-x-8.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302007&ppuser=27233)
Victoria Burns (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302007&cat=500&ppuser=27233)

[Vallie]

Thanks Bendy, Robyn has posted about Red Cross donations on her thread. It is hard to imagine the horror of losing family and everything you own.....

[Ineke]

Thank you Bendi for starting this thread I think all of us in Australia really appreciate it:hug::hug::hug::hug:

[Lynnie]

It is a great thread - I hope we can find a constructive way to help, in addition to the prayers and red threads.

[Lynnie]

Here is the link for Robyn's thread:

Victorian Bushfire Donations (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36733)

[evergreen100]

How wonderful of you to start this thread, bendi. I think everyone in Aus and beyond are in shock over the magnitude of this tragedy!

[Mars]

It's been devasting just to watch the news of all the horror I can't imagine the pain our Aussies friends are feeling. Thankyou for starting this thread.

[kaybutler@mweb.]

Thank-you Bendi for doing this..my heart and my prayers go out to all our Aussie friends and family whose lives have been so impacted by this tragedy !

[AliceMattison]

I'm glad you did this, Bendi! My thoughts and prayers are with all our Aussie friends.

[HeatherH]

I'm just seeing this thread now. Such a horrible tragedy for everyone there. Many thoughts and prayers going out to all affected by this tragedy!!:pray::hug:

[GrandmaCrys]

Bendi, you're such a special, thoughtful person to have started this thread.

Aussie friends, our hearts as so heavy as we mourn with you, over this trajedy!

[Roberta T]

I'm glad I found this too. My prayers are so with Australia right now. I can only pray for the people affected, and for hearts to open and shower the victims with all that they need.

[Collie]

Hi all

The first layout is of the moving picture of the CFA fireman feeding water to the shocked Koala "Sam" that has become a world wide hit showing the humanity of survival and the other pictures showing the verocity of the wildfires the old homestead,the remains of the sweet shop at Kingslake, the embers flying in the gale force winds....

This second layout is my small tribute to the victims of the Bushfires that have devastated Victoria Australia......thanks is given to FormbyGirl for asking me to post the layout in this thread....The tragedy and overwhelming support being shown by our fellow aussies is to be commended when our chips are down..... I found the poem to be very moving........and the last 3 verses are powerful.....


http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/500/thumbs/VicFire1_c_2.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302376&ppuser=139944)
Victorian Fires - Koal... (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302376&ppuser=139944)

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/500/thumbs/Wildfire1_Medium_.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302684&ppuser=139944)
Tribute to Victorian B... (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302684&ppuser=139944)Thanks again for your comments on the layout..

Collie
_______

[BethHardy]

I cannot even imagine the horror of these fires and the devastation, the loss, the grief they have caused. My prayers are with each of you Aussies, with those who died, with those who lost families and homes and communities.

[Ineke]

Wonderful tributes Collie I especially like the poem

[Lynnie]

Here's Mine:
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/data/518/thumbs/200902-It_s-All-Gone---Australia-Fires-Tribute.jpgIt's All Gone (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302861)

[Collie]

FormyGirl

Very moving layout.........its hard too know what too say on such a tragic event that is still happening and we must thank your country for sending out those fireman in our time of need.....just shows how human we can become when we need more resources as the verocity of the fires were very rapid and fierce...so many lives lost unnecessarily..can say more about as nothing has been learned from the fires of 2006 too implement a warning system....they have now said they can get it running soon..but that's too late now...they said that back then....so I will leave it at that....



collie

[Ineke]

I have created another layout - this one on a lighter note - this cute little koala was one of the lucky escapees of the fires.

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/500/thumbs/Koala-bear.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302996&ppuser=44859)
How much can a Koala b... (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=302996&ppuser=44859)

[rayw1]

No matter what I tried, I could not, for the life of me find how to create a thread or a post in this site so I will put my
Bush Fire Tribute Poems to the Australian Fire victims and hope that the moderator can place them on a thread or post
of their own. I am an oldie and these new fangled things have to have step one, step two type directions! I hope they are enjoyed for what they are, tributes to the fallen, both man and animal.
Raymond J Warren
Brisbane Queensland


For We Are Aussies And We Care
Raymond J Warren
Brisbane Qld
February 9th 2009

Did you see that fireball a’rolling, down the valley fair
And the timber smoke a’rising, from the beauty that was there?
Did you hear the bird’s loud calling, in fear as they flew,
And house dogs barking loudly, at the fright that they felt too?

Did you hear the wind loud roaring, like a jet plane overhead,
Did you see the roadway littered with the dying and the dead?
Did you hear the crackling bushland and see the volunteers fight,
Did you watch the orange horizon in the darkness of the night?

Can you hear the men hard yelling, as they run this way and that,
Can you hear the horses screaming as they gallop on the flat?
Do you hear the child calling as she stands now safe alone,
“Where’s my daddy have you seen him, I want my daddy home!”

Do you know that sinking feeling of the loss and loneliness,
As you stand before your once proud home and feel the emptiness.
Do you know that heartache, as you sift through ashes bare?
Does a tear come to your reddened eyes, for memories stolen there?

Can you hear the deathly cry go up, to meet the burnished sky,
Of fathers with their children gone and a mother's mournful sigh.
And those who search empty roads, for loved ones that don't come.
The old and wise who blame themselves, for not telling them to run.

But please don’t worry strongly, there is something you should know,
We can’t bring back your loved ones, or the tokens for to show.
But we can share your pain, for our shoulders we lay bare.
So lay your head upon our breast, we are Aussies and we care.


THE SILENCE OF TWO HUNDRED
A Tribute to the victims of Black Saturday in Victoria
February 2009
Raymond J Warren

Lone bird flying o’er the land, not knowing whence or where,
Her mate has gone midst flame and wind, that she could not share.
Their nesting tree where was it now? It surely has not crumbled,
Only blackened sticks below and the silence of two hundred.

It seems like many years ago, when voices laughed and spoke,
Before the heat, the fierce wind and that cloudy choking smoke.
Where Goanna ran up trees of green and Koalas never numbered
But all is quiet in the bush, with the silence of two hundred.

Once they lived together all, in bush land so serene,
When normal rain kept it there, growing evergreen.
But then the savagery of drought, of bush too little lumbered
And terror witnessed only by, the silence of two hundred

The orange glow has gone now, the birds have gone to rest,
A haze is on horizon and black silhouettes ride each crest.
The air is still and cooling and the earth is ere encumbered,
For nothing now will ever change, the silence of two hundred.

Lone bird flying o’er the land not knowing whence or where
Her mate is gone midst flame and wind, that she did not share.
No more there will she nest again, for from the air she tumbled,
To sleep upon the blackened ash, with the silence of two hundred.


SAM AND BOB OUT THERE
February 10th 2009

Raymond J Warren



How ever did you make it Sam, how did you get away,

Why did fire spare you when it burned your home that day?

Did you have a special charm to keep alive out there?

Or did the god of animals, feel sorrow for a Koala Bear?



You sat beneath a blackened tree your tongue thick with thirst,

Your feet they felt like red-hot coals, with pads about to burst.

The fire took the lives of all and anything that moved,

But somehow you came through it safe, a volunteer bottle soothed.



They say that Koalas do not drink, that gum leaves do the trick,

But you showed all they were wrong, as you gave that bottle lick.

Oh how you loved that fireman and his water bottle there,

Sitting on your bottom, with your sore feet in the air.



And now you’ve found a domicile, away from fire and smoke

And you found yourself a male man, a true Koala bloke.

Sam and Bob they speak of now, in hesitating terms,

How did you ere come through it all, with only minor burns?




THE TERRIBLE SHADE OF THE OLD

GHOST GUM TREE

Raymond J Warren

February 2009



She stood on that hillside for two hundred years,

A Ghost Gum that saw life, it’s pleasures and fears.

Now blackened and burned, no leaf is in place,

All bush life has gone, burned away without trace.



She saw it not coming, there was nothing to do,

No warning was issued, till birds shrieked and flew.

And then Hades arrived to claim Lucifer’s fee,

In the terrible shade of the old Ghost Gum Tree.

Yes she had seen many years slow come and go,

Kangaroo and Koala that she’d come to know.

Goanna and Magpie and Piping Shrike too,

But now all were gone, there were not even few.


The nestlings were burned and lay in her breast,

Cockatoo and Galah and the one with pink crest.

Only a Possum who had lived deep inside,

Managed escape with a slightly burned hide.


Now she waits for the winter, for the rains that will come,

For her leaves that will spring forth to welcome the sun.

But sad she resigns, to how things will be,

In the terrible shade of the old Ghost Gum Tree.